John F. Hamilton

John F. Hamilton (November 7, 1893 – July 11, 1967) was an American actor born in New York City whose career spanned stage, film, and vaudeville across several decades. A graduate of Fordham University, he began performing in vaudeville in 1916 before transitioning to a stage career that brought him to Broadway, where he appeared in productions from 1922 to 1945.

Hamilton's Broadway work encompassed a wide range of plays. His earliest credited appearances included Shore Leave in 1922, followed by Hell-bent Fer Heaven and The Mongrel, both in 1924, and The Dagger in 1925. He continued working steadily on Broadway through subsequent decades, appearing in Rockbound in 1929, The Black Tower in 1932, and Ceiling Zero in 1935. His later Broadway credits included Iron Men in 1936, Of Mice and Men in 1937, Clash by Night in 1941, The Day Will Come in 1944, and Therese in 1945.

Although Hamilton worked primarily in theater, he also appeared occasionally in film. He is perhaps most widely recognized for his role as Pops, the father of Eva Marie Saint's character, in Elia Kazan's 1954 film On the Waterfront. To distinguish him from other actors sharing a similar name, he used the middle initial F. throughout his career — differentiating himself from the prolific American film actor John Hamilton, known for playing Perry White on television, and from a British actor of the same name who worked in England and Europe during the 1930s.

Hamilton spent the final five years of his life at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey. He died on July 11, 1967, at Bergen Pines Hospital in Paramus, New Jersey, at the age of 73.